I Read Every Jane Austen Book Back-To-Back – These 4 Changed How I See Her Writing

Shorter Works of Jane Austen by the Folio SocietyI first took an interest in Jane Austen after watching Pride & Prejudice (specifically, the 1995 BBC version – sorry, Kiera Knightley’s flick can’t compare). It wasn’t just THAT Colin Firth pond scene that did it, though the moment didn’t hurt. I loved how funny and irreverent the lines were; I particularly liked Lizzie Bennett admitting she fell in love with Darcy after seeing his massive gaff.So, I read the novel, adored it, and thumbed through the first few pages of Sense & Sensibility too before sadly forgetting it. It’s only this year, as we’re celebrating the 250th anniversary of the author’s birth, that I have finally dedicated myself to going through all of the author’s written works. Though Emma remains my favourite, these four forever changed how I viewed the rest of Austen’s work: 1) Lady SusanLove and Friendship was packed with hilarious criminal and romantic mischiefs, but I have to admit I couldn’t follow all of them; the prose was a little confusing to me.Not so with Lady Susan, who is proven an outright rogue and indisputable villain through addictive letters. She is cruel, romantically ruthless, and obsessed with money, men, and status – all of which were necessarily linked back then.By the end of the multi-perspective book, it’s hard to feel 100% convinced that this was a wholly unprofitable series of traits for women at the time. Illuminating, I thought, for readers of Austen’s other marriage-driven characters.2) Sanditon More clippy than promising-but-plodding The Watsons, this unfinished manuscript deserves better than its 3.5-star Goodreads rating for one pairing only: Charlotte and verbose Sir Edwards, who slags off “the mere trash” of most novels. After a near-incomprehensible rant about books, we learn the gentleman likes the “passion” of Burns; Charlotte’s succinct dismissal, “he felt and he wrote and he forgot”, feels instructive to readers of her other novels.It’s hard not to read Austen a little differently after their exchanges, or to think that the author might be on Charlotte’s side when she confesses she doesn’t separate “a man’s poetry entirely from his character”.Plus, there’s the chronically faux-sick sisters of the Parker family, whose hyperchondriac presence (anyone who’s read Emma will know) always makes an Austen book funnier. 3) Northanger Abbey I don’t care that its Goodreads score is relatively low compared to the bigger titles: this is a laugh-out-loud joy, which sees Catherine Morland’s obsession with Gothic literature lead her into rather non-heroic delusions.Not only are the adventures of a “heroine in training” very funny, but it’s also deeply reassuring to find that even the star of an Austen novel spends most of her time in Bath shuffling awkwardly around a group of strangers rather than effortlessly shmoozing with the great and good. In other words, it’s still relatable.And it cemented, for me, the author’s often underappreciated status as a master satirist; a title even better-earned, I think, than her deserved one as a genius author of romance.4) Persuasion It’s far from a hidden gem, but I personally hadn’t heard much about Austen’s last completed novel until I started this readathon.What a shame! Not only is it the most grown-up of all her works, but come on: when it comes to romance plotlines, “your spurned ex is rich now and it turns out you’re about to spend a lot of time together, plus you look soooo much younger than you think!” is an absolute world-beater. Jarringly, though, Austen is outright mean, rather than her usual “pointedly witty”, in the novel.The Musgroves’ family’s grief for their son Richard, her character thinks, must be fake because “he had, in fact, though his sisters were now doing all they could for him, by calling him ‘poor Richard,’ been nothing better than a thick-headed, unfeeling, unprofitable Dick Musgrove, who had never done anything to entitle himself to more than the abbreviation of his name, living or dead”.Brutal! And makes you wonder what else in her mostly-burned letters – a rare surviving one of which also made light of a parent’s grief following their baby’s passing – might have held (as well as where the true source of a lot of her wit could have come from).Related...Jane Austen Fans Share Her 9 Best TV And Movie Adaptations Of All TimeIt's Not Just Austen – Posh Accents Are Ruining Period Dramas, Historian SaysWho Cares About Pride And Prejudice's New Darcy? Austen Knew He Was Never The Real Romantic Lead

Comments

Breaking news

Drug smugglers outnumber crimefighters on Atlantic’s ‘cocaine superhighway’

Metro

Aldi stores in Edinburgh and The Lothians donated over 43,000 meals to families in need throughout recent summer holidays

about 2 hours ago

Blantyre schoolgirl features as face of Cancer Research UK campaign

Daily Record

Comments

Breaking news

Drug smugglers outnumber crimefighters on Atlantic’s ‘cocaine superhighway’

Spanish restaurants begging for tourists to come back after protests killed business

Major blunder after Great North Run medals show wrong city and river

Former Army officer admits sex assault on soldier, 19, who then took own life

Police investigating ‘woman in distress’ find it’s a noisy goat called Simon

'It's A Pity': Volodymyr Zelenskyy Says Trump 'Gave Putin What He Wanted' With This 1 Move

As world gets hotter, Americans are turning to more sugar, study finds

Supreme Court lifts restrictions on LA immigration stops set after agents swept up US citizens

Rian Johnson takes Glenn Close to church in 'Wake Up, Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery'

Man found living inside of crawlspace in Oregon home - and as cops discover makeshift bed and meth

Warming seas threaten key phytoplankton species that fuels the food web, study finds

ICE bathroom order reveals how long Trump takeover of Chicago could last

Trump seen with mysterious blue object in his mouth at US Open

Fugitive father who went on the run with his children for nearly four years shot dead by police

Union leaders warn of ‘massive backlash’ if Starmer axes Rayner’s workers’ rights charter

FTSE 100 closes higher as gold and oil climb

Trump must pay $83 million to E Jean Carroll after ‘egregious’ defamation case, appeals court rules

Ex-sergeant major admits sexually assaulting soldier who took her own life

Woman who murdered family lunch guests by poisoning beef wellington with mushrooms jailed for life

Israel is hit by terror while unleashing its own terror in Gaza - only extremists will win

Africa’s climate summit is fighting back against Trump’s fossil fuel agenda

Met chief to propose laws preventing officers from policing tweets ‘within weeks’

‘Putin wants us to panic’: Why Russia launched the largest aerial strike of the war so far

Scott Bessent prods White House rival to settle things ‘outside’ for talking to Trump about him: report

Karoline Leavitt mocked over ‘coolest boss ever’ post about Trump at US Open

What Americans think about socialism and capitalism, according to a new Gallup poll

Hurricane Kiko is weakening and expected to bypass Hawaii, forecasters say

Star Trek plans packed lineup for the franchise's 60th anniversary, with Lego sets and YouTube show

Mom arrested after her 12-year-old son wandered off and was killed by an alligator

'Crazy' object spotted on Google Earth prompting adventurer to find it in real life

Scots transport cop banned from force after sexually assaulting female colleagues

Funding for West Lothian buses should be 'forever', councillor claims

Call for volunteers to relaunch West Lothian community food store

Aldi stores in Edinburgh and The Lothians donated over 43,000 meals to families in need throughout recent summer holidays

Blantyre schoolgirl features as face of Cancer Research UK campaign

West Lothian woman celebrates her 102nd birthday in style

Stirling's Podfather 10k race sees record turnout despite challenging weather

North Lanarkshire business announces relocation from Cumbernauld to Wishaw

Scots pub boss ordered to pay £18,000 to worker he claimed 'liked white people better'

Scots pensioner confirmed as victim killed in horror Lisbon funicular crash

US tech and finance giants to join Trump on second UK state visit

Jerusalem bus shooting will exacerbate already high tensions between Israelis and Palestinians

UK could suspend visas from countries that do not agree migrant returns deals

British 'Thor' becomes first person to swim 1,000 miles around Iceland

Win a haunting Halloween getaway at Alton Towers Resort!

Ugg's new style of boot for autumn 2025 is dividing the internet– would you wear them?

Parents baffled over popular Play-Doh kids toy that was invented for very different reason

American Airlines passenger kicked off flight after telling air hostess to 'shut up'

UK households told to put one kitchen item on window sills during September

Mirror's Daily Digest - top five stories you need to read tonight

Madeleine McCann suspect's brutal response to police searching her home

Prince Harry charms kids at emotional awards after avoiding William reunion

Meet the ratfish that use teeth-covered rods on their foreheads to have sex

Man driving F1-type racing car on motorway for years finally caught by police

At least 19 killed after police open fire on ‘Gen Z protest’ in Nepal

Anti-migrant protester who rallied to ‘protect kids’ revealed to be a paedophile

First picture of third British tourist who died in Lisbon tram crash

Can A Hairclip Help Cure Migraines? I Asked A Doctor

Here's How Many Steps To Walk A Day To Lower Your Dementia Risk

Kremlin Vows To 'Never' Abandon War Goals After Trump Renews Sanctions Threat